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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28729095">The Bat Comes to Metropolis</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starrik/pseuds/Starrik'>Starrik</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>DC Extended Universe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Business Flirting, M/M, Potential Bruce/Clark/Lois, Pre-Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 07:09:07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>8,203</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28729095</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starrik/pseuds/Starrik</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>WayneTech has opened up an office in Metropolis, and a skeptical Clark Kent is sent to interview the billionaire playboy poster child - as revenge by Lois for trashing her article about WayneTech. Clark immediately has multiple crises, all over none other than Bruce Wayne, the second witty, hot raven-haired foil in Clark's life. Maybe he's going to have to admit to himself that he has a type.</p>
<p>Inspired by Unpretty's fantastic DC fics Sorrowful and Immaculate Hearts, give them a read!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>76</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Bat Billionaire Bisexual Bind</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">


        <li>
            Inspired by

            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/14590092">Gone Fishing</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unpretty/pseuds/Unpretty">Unpretty</a>.
        </li>

    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I grant you it <em>is</em> a catchy title, Lois, but honestly.”</p>
<p>There was a dangerous glint in the violet eyes watching Clark as he lowered the draft. It was patently unfair that Lois Lane had such striking eyes on top of her fearsome reputation. He’d regretted the time he speculated that she just terrified her interviewees into giving her the best scoops, but he hadn’t really been joking.</p>
<p>“Go on then, Clark. Tell me what you really think. But first I’ll remind you which one of us is the star journalist at the Daily Planet – and who is the annoying pain in my side from Kansas.”</p>
<p> Clark sighed, and dropped the draft onto his desk. It was hard to ignore the brilliant smile of billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne flashing up at him.</p>
<p>“Is that really what you think about him? I mean, doesn’t Metropolis have enough on its plate with the scheming billionaire we already have? LexCorp is probably having kittens over this. Besides, I don’t remember the last time something good came here from Gotham. The place is a warzone.”</p>
<p>“Times are changing, Clark, even if your inherited bias against Gotham isn’t. Last year, Metropolis, Central City and Star City all ranked worse for Super Crime than Gotham – and with Waynesurance’s comprehensive Batman plan cheap enough that your dog could afford it, they were in the top ten for disaster recovery. You can’t say that for LexCorp.”</p>
<p>“Listen to yourself,” Clark scoffed, “you’re defending an <em>insurance company</em>. Next you’ll be signing up for their newsletter.”</p>
<p>“I sign up to everyone’s newsletter, farmboy, you never know where the next scoop is coming from. And seriously, lighten up. WayneTech’s already made a good impression, and you’re not going to make front page any time soon with this crusade of yours.”</p>
<p>Even if she was right, Lois’ points failed to take the edge off of Clark’s caution around WayneTech and its’ charismatic poster boy. Mama knew he’d had enough run ins with Metropolis’ live in billionaire to last a lifetime already, he didn’t need to be dealing with another one running around and stirring the pot.</p>
<p>“I concede, if that’s what you want. But I reserve the right to be smug if this all goes belly up quicker than Jimmy at the office Christmas party.”</p>
<p>Lois snorted quietly at that, and Clark knew that they’d buried the hatchet for now at least. She’d had to help him get the photographer into a cab home that night. Well, she’d insisted on helping and he hadn’t been able to think of a good lie. For a man with a secret identity, he was still very bad at that.</p>
<p>“Stop being mean to Jimmy and get your coat, Perry’s got something for you.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, you great lugnut. You’re interviewing Bruce Wayne. Lucky, lucky man.”</p><hr/>
<p>Forgiving Lois for that surprise took almost the whole journey from the <em>Planet</em> to the Lexor Hotel’s garishly plush lobby. It might have technically been a fantastic opportunity to steal tomorrow’s headline away from her, if not for his suspicion that she had asked Perry to give it to him instead, like some like of premeditated revenge for the conversation they hadn’t had yet. The thought was somehow both paranoid and incredibly likely at the same time.</p>
<p>“Clark Kent, here to interview Bruce Wayne?” he asked the concierge. Clark peered down at the woman’s nametag, politely ignoring the appraising look that she was giving him.</p>
<p>“Of course Mr Kent. Mr Wayne said he was expecting you, right this way.”</p>
<p>“Thank you Julie.”</p>
<p>She flushed a little when he said her name, and Clark was reminded of himself when he’d first moved to Metropolis. Everything was so <em>dense</em> here, he’d thought. How did everyone not get lost?</p>
<p>He followed her into a parlour that he’d never been in before, all the plush furniture made him uncomfortable. It was disturbingly similar to his great aunt’s sitting room, where he’d been afraid to touch even the plastic cushion covers for fear of dirtying them and bringing his aunt’s wrath.</p>
<p>Bruce Wayne stood languidly, stretching a hand out to Clark. The move seemed like a deliberate one, as if he were choosing a more casual affect to put Clark at ease. In fact, the opulent surrounding accentuated the cordial air, rather than clashing with it. If he hadn’t been wary of the man already, this would definitely have put Clark on edge.</p>
<p>“Clark Kent, I assume? They weren’t kidding when they said they grow them big in Kansas.”</p>
<p>“No sir. Thank you for agreeing to this interview, I know you must be tired after your flight.”</p>
<p>The two men shook hands, Bruce’s much more slender than his own, but no less big for that. Clark had seen enough tabloids to know that Wayne was at least as big as himself, and with an aesthetically curated musculature that you’d need a master sculptor to recreate.</p>
<p>They both sat, Wayne lounging back into the embrace of the pillows while Clark set up his recorder on the coffee table. The brilliant smile that he’d seen on Lois’ draft flashed at him, and something worrying stirred deep inside of Clark that he chose not to dwell on until later.</p>
<p>“I imagine you have questions?”</p>
<p>“That is my job, after all. Mr Wayne –“</p>
<p>“It sounds like you’re talking to my father. I’ve been outside a city before, Clark, I know you don’t call people you like <em>Mr Wayne</em>. I’m sure we’ll come to know each other fantastically in due course – how about I call you Clark, and you just call me Bruce. Brucie, if we really get to know each other.”</p>
<p>Oh <em>no</em>, this was not a tactic that he’d been ready to handle today. Clark had no doubt that the bashful farmboy act would work on Bruce about as well as it did on Lois, which was not at all. He looked at Bruce for a moment then, and made full eye contact for the first time since he’d entered the room.</p>
<p>If it wasn’t for the added speed of mind that the Sun gave his alien biology, Clark might have recoiled from that gaze. There were a lot of things in Bruce Wayne’s eyes that gave Clark Kent pause – not least the unnerving impression of someone looking right through every lie he’d ever told. One second of eye contact, and he was quite certain that Bruce Wayne had already figured out who Superman was.</p>
<p>“How about we stick to Bruce for now,” Clark choked out.</p>
<p>He’d have to do better than that, if he didn’t want this handsome asshole to be the end of his journalistic career.</p>
<p>“You’ll come around,” Bruce replied with a smirk.</p>
<p>“What brings WayneTech to Metropolis? Until now, your ventures have mostly been restricted to Blüdhaven and Gotham, mostly. This is quite the change for you.”</p>
<p>“Maybe we just wanted an easier market. It’s been no joke operating out of Gotham over the last ten years. No, but really it’s more about opportunity. WayneTech has found unparalleled success operating in cities just like Metropolis.”</p>
<p>Clark would definitely have to use that joke in his article, but he found himself more intrigued by the unexpected answer. Maybe this interview was for more than just unsettling a local reporter and flirting with everything that moved.</p>
<p>“Most of our readers would balk at the suggestion that Gotham and Metropolis are anything alike, let alone similar business propositions. How do you figure that?”</p>
<p>A slight shift in Bruce told Clark that the man had wanted him to take that bait, which wasn’t surprising but still annoying.</p>
<p>“Quite simple, really. WayneTech excels in situations where corporations have bought out all the competition, and has forgotten how to be truly challenged. Did you know, Clark, that in the last five years small businesses in Gotham have gone from accounting for about five percent of the city’s GDP to thirty-five? And it’s growing every year.”</p>
<p>“I didn’t know that. The way you say it, it’s almost like you’re claiming credit for those numbers. But WayneTech is the biggest megacorp in the city?”</p>
<p>“Oh, sure, but it’s nothing like it used to be. The technique was pretty simple, actually. After I took control of WayneTech, I starting swinging at the legs of every one of my competitors. Drove them out of business, bought them out, shut them down with one of the many armies of lawyers at my disposal. Meanwhile, the Thomas Wayne Foundation for Independent Industry stepped up it’s targeted funding programs in every field that we drove someone else out of. These days, in Gotham WayneTech is known for producing both expensive, technologically complicated products and mass-market robot produced stuff at cheap rates. But just about everything in between is now small business – hell, we revived the corner store from obscurity. And a self-sufficient, business-owning consumer base is both much better situated to want the luxury tech we offer, and way less likely to turn to crime to feed their families.”</p>
<p>It was obvious that Bruce was dramatically simplifying his plan for the readers, but it told Clark in no uncertain terms that Lois was right – Gotham <em>had</em> changed drastically, and he hadn’t done his due diligence in keeping up with those developments.</p>
<p>“Speaking of crime, I’d be a fool not to take the opportunity to talk of Gotham’s other most prominent figure, with whom you’ve become quite strongly associated.”</p>
<p>“The Batman?”</p>
<p>“The very same. In the last few years, Gothamites have given you the moniker ‘The Bat’, as, in their words, ‘We’ve got the Batman to clean up the streets, and the Bat to clean up the city.’ What do you make of that? And what is your feeling about being so tightly tied to the beloved and feared vigilante?”</p>
<p>Bruce took a moment to answer that question, looking for all the world like he was enjoying finding the right words.</p>
<p>“While in all honesty, I can’t bring myself to approve of all of the Batman’s methods, it would be hard to deny that he’s had a net positive effect on Gotham in his tireless work in uprooting Gotham’s criminal underbelly. I hope that when all is said and done, people will think as kindly of the work that I did for Gotham as they do of the Batman. As for my association with the Batman, I can tell you that it’s nothing more than a fanciful creation of the public. Batman notoriously thinks very little of the upper crust, and I suspect that if it wasn’t useful to him to have my name attached to him then he’d have made his feelings quite clear on the matter.”</p>
<p>“And what might those questions be, Bruce?”</p>
<p>“Well, Clark, I’m pretty sure that the Batman despises me. He’s very nearly said as much to me himself.”</p>
<p>“I know that the reading public will be very interested to hear that. Circling back to your plans in Metropolis, it’s early days yet but are we to assume that you intend for similar outcomes here as in Gotham and Blüdhaven?”</p>
<p>Clark made a note of the slight head shake that Bruce gave to that question. Less amused, this time, maybe having hoped that the business questions were coming to an end.</p>
<p>“What we were able to do in Gotham relied on a lot of circumstantial factors which aren’t the same here in Metropolis. What I can say is best summarized in two ideas – we <em>are</em> here to break LexCorp’s hold on the city, and we <em>are</em> here to make things better for the average Metropolitan. Or the median Metropolitan, if you prefer.”</p>
<p>That was a polite attempt to end an interview if Clark had ever heard one, so he reached over to switch off the recording.</p>
<p>“Thank you for your time, Bruce.”</p>
<p>“Any time, Clark. It’s refreshing to talk to an unfamiliar journalist – so much less drama.”</p>
<p>He could imagine, rumour had it that Bruce had slept with a significant portion of Gotham’s journalists. He also still didn’t want to think about things like that when Bruce Wayne was in the room.</p>
<p>The two men stood and shook each other’s hands again. Less off guard this time, Clark caught how measured Bruce’s grip was. Not tight and domineering, nor weak or loose – he’d gauged it perfectly to the strength a man of Clark’s size and build would probably have. Good thing he hadn’t slipped up there.</p>
<p>He made his way to the door of the parlour, relieved to be done with the interview. It felt like he’d been doing this one for a year – oddly similar to how he felt when Lois had done mock interviews with him on their personal development days.</p>
<p>“Oh, and Clark? Better <em>fly</em> on back to the <em>Planet</em>. I hear Luthor is about to make a statement.”</p>
<p>Clark threw a look over his should at Bruce, trying to figure out if he’d imagined the emphasis on ‘fly’. The smirk he got in return told him nothing at all.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Street Dog Stakeout Stains Wayne Story</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Clark drags Lois out on a stakeout of the new WayneTech building, hoping to find something if he doesn't get too caught up in Lois' eyes.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Nothing spurred Clark to work overtime like being bested in an interview. No matter which way he looked at the recording, Bruce hadn’t given up a single thing that he wasn’t planning to tell him anyway. Any attempt to try and figure out the whys of that lead to awkward introspections that he still didn’t want to examine.</p><p>That went double for the weird dreams where Bruce had joined Lois in tormenting him in his sleep.</p><p>“Are you sure this isn’t taking your weird vendetta against Wayne a little too far?” Lois asked.</p><p>“Are you sure this isn’t the fifth time you’ve asked me that? Besides, I already told you that you don’t have to do this with me. I’m not a junior reporter anymore, Lois, I can handle a stakeout myself.”</p><p>Was that rude? Mama would be very upset with him if it got back to her that he was being rude to ladies in Metropolis. And despite the deep-seated terror that gripped him at the idea of Lois meeting Mama, he also had absolutely no doubt that it would happen some day. The best possible outcome there was Mama deciding that she liked Lois, and the two of them immediately trading embarrassing stories about him.</p><p>“Touchy-touchy, farm boy. Did someone steal the seat cover off your tractor?”</p><p>“Tractors don’t have…” he trailed off as he realised that she was mocking him. It was still too hard to tell when she was teasing; Lois knew so little about farm life that he would fully have believed her if she said she sincerely believed that.</p><p>Clark shifted again in the cramped seat. He’d had to get out to grab the two of them street dogs to snack on, and hadn’t been able to get comfortable again since.</p><p>“Wanna swap seats, big boy?”</p><p>He tried and failed to suppress the blush that rose unbidden to his cheeks at her tone.</p><p>“I’m happy in the passenger seat, thanks. You’re sure nothing happened while I was gone?”</p><p>“Yeah, I completely forgot to mention the eight mafia deals that went down in the <em>five minutes</em> it took you to get dogs. You might not be a junior reporter anymore, but I’ve been doing this longer than you’ve known how to ride the subway.”</p><p>Clark grumbled for a moment, before old habits made him quieten down. No use grumbling, either say what you want to say or get on with it.</p><p>The wake of the grumbling left a companionable silence behind it. The feeling of the moment reminded Clark of home, of sneaking out of bed at night to watch his parents sit quietly in their living room together. Mama would knit, or sew, or find something useful to occupy her hands with, and Da would whittle away at some piece of junk wood he’d collected.</p><p>Barely a word an hour would pass between them, but the gentle contentment had suffused Clark completely. Maybe that was why he liked Lois so much – she might be a city woman through and through, but there was some of that country quiet in her. He hadn’t yet figured out where it came from yet.</p><p>“Look alive, Kent, seems like your paranoia might have something to it after all. It’s the Bat.”</p><p>She gestured out into the night, and Clark buried his embarrassment that he’d somehow spent the last five minutes looking at the curve of Lois’ jaw and completely failing to use his superior night vision to keep watch.</p><p>“Wayne? Where?”</p><p>“The <em>other</em> Bat, Kansas. Up there. Also, I changed my mind, whoever decided to call both of Gotham’s frontmen Bats was an idiot.”</p><p>Sure enough, Clark could see the Batman making his way off of the roof of the WayneTech building. There was no way to tell whether he’d been inside the building and just emerged now, or if the Batman had snuck into WayneTech and just happened to be coming out this way. Maybe it would have been better if he’d done this stakeout from the air.</p><p>The two of them lifted up their cameras, already set to get the best possible capture in the terrible lighting. Clark filmed, Lois snapped – much to her chagrin, Clark had always had the steadier hand.</p><p>The Batman didn’t stick around long, apparently chasing after some other business in Metropolis. It was the first time Clark had ever had the chance to see the legendary figure in person, and he was forced to concede that the silhouette was truly unsettling, like a demonic shadow against the dim moonlight.</p><p>“That confirms the rule: wherever the Bat goes, the Batman follows. I’ll let you keep the lead on this one Clark, it was your stakeout in the first place. What’s the story? <em>Batman Linked to WayneTech Expansion</em>?”</p><p>Clark shook his head slightly, mostly to himself.</p><p>“We leave WayneTech off the story for now, the moment we mention Wayne like that Perry is going to be on our asses about getting to the bottom of this before we publish anything. Too risky for the paper. Let’s just go with <em>Batman Visit to Gotham: What Don’t We Know?</em>”</p><p>Lois made an appreciative sound, like sighing with attitude.</p><p>“I can follow that lead. What’s your next step?”</p><p>“My next step is trying to make some sense of the terabyte of information I need to sort through to figure out if there is actually a strong link between the Batman and WayneTech.”</p><p>“I thought you were up to speed on the Gotham sitch?”</p><p>“More or less,” Clark admitted, “but if I want Perry to publish a piece saying that Wayne and the Batman are in cahoots, then I’m going to need more than old tabloid pieces claiming that Wayne <em>is</em> Batman.”</p><p>“What if he is?”</p><p>“Give me a break, you think that Wayne needs to run around at night in a Bat costume to feel powerful? He’s got Lex Luthor quaking in his boots. Actually, that tells me what you should do.”</p><p>“Is that right, Mr Cahoots? <em>You</em> are giving <em>me</em> next steps now?”</p><p>“Too right I am. You should do a follow up interview with Wayne, hint that we’re onto something and see if he squirms. You’ve always been better at putting the pressure on leads like him.”</p><p>“True. But I think you just want me to come back talking about how hard to squeeze Bruce Wayne is, so people stop whispering that your interview skills are rusty.”</p><p>“Two birds?”</p><p>Lois laughed, like the bark of a dog on the hunt.</p><p>“Alright, Kent. I’ll be your stone this time.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Distrust</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Lois and Clark reconvene, and prepare to bring the Wayne investigation to Perry White at the Planet, when they run into an unexpected acquaintance in the Planet's elevator.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I take back the jokes, Clark,” Lois grumbled, literally bumping into him outside the <em>Planet’s</em> closest subway station. She was always doing that, using Clark as a convenient landing pad for her uncontrolled velocity. “Wayne is both too hot for his own good, and more than happy to use it to his advantage. I can’t believe I’m going on a date with him.”</p><p>“You don’t… have to?” Clark offered, steadying her with a gentle hand.</p><p>“I’m going to though. How often do you get the chance to go on a date with a suave billionaire? But you can quit looking so glum, nothing’s going to come of it.”</p><p>Clark wasn’t so sure about that, but he also didn’t want to know why Lois thought that he needed to be reassured about her dating life.</p><p>He <em>did</em>, but she wasn’t supposed to know about that. Pining when the object of your affection knew that you were doing it stopped being a private wrestle with emotions, and just became sad. Or worse, destroyed friendships and work relationships. He’d seen that happen too many times by far.</p><p>“I’m not looking glum, and you can date whoever you please Lois.”</p><p>“There’s the staunch feminist I know and love. It’s a good thing you didn’t stay in bumfuck, Kansas, Clark, I bet you would have driven the girls mad with your polite, muscular charm and sheer refusal to do anything about it.”</p><p>Having Lois see through him was always a bizarre experience. She both knew him incredibly well, and chose to pay close attention to all of these little details about him. On the other hand, it was disconcerting to have anyone be able to read him that clearly.</p><p>“Told ya, glum. Anyway, did you find anything in your research?”</p><p>“Plenty. Wayne is making Gotham’s turnaround seem way easier than it actually was, and the parallel between WayneTech’s political and economic influence and the rise of the Batman’s vigilante justice is a lot tighter than anyone is reporting. Whatever Wayne says, when you step back and look at the last ten years it’s clear that something was directing the two down the exact same path.”</p><p>“Big words from a big man. Is it enough to convince Perry to print?”</p><p>“It’s enough to convince Perry that there’s a story here beyond the official word. Bruce Wayne is the mayor of Gotham in all but name, and he’s got such a tight grip on WayneTech that even its’ directors aren’t functioning as a council to reign him in. The idea that he could try to do the same here should be worrying enough to Perry that he’ll let us push harder.”</p><p>“I’ve got your back on this Clark. I’ve got my own reservations about Wayne, separate from yours, so let’s get Perry on side and then we can follow this trail until it bears fruit.”</p><p>Lois stepped ahead of him to shove open the <em>Planet</em>’s door and let the both of them inside. The morning rush was not yet in full swing, even Sandra at the front desk didn’t look like her coffee had woken her up yet. She groggily waved at the two reporters as they walked past, used to the unbearable force of two morning people at 6:55am.</p><p>They boarded the almost-empty elevator just before its doors closed, on time as usual. It took Clark a solid second to recognise the shabby figure in dark sunglasses, slumped against the elevator’s wall.</p><p>“Bruce?” he said aloud, doubt weighing down the word.</p><p>“Metropolis’ star reporters, both in the same place. What are the chances?” he asked, the charm gradually coming online as the sentence progressed.</p><p>“High,” Clark and Lois said in unison.</p><p>The elevator lurched suddenly, and both of the ancient lightbulbs flickered out.</p><p>“Should I be concerned, or is this elevator as old as it looks?”</p><p>“Both,” they replied together again.</p><p>Clark was wondering how much he should be pretending that the darkness impeded his vision, but Bruce solved that issue before it had time to properly manifest, drawing a miniature survival lamp from a pocket and sticking one end of it to the elevator’s ceiling.</p><p>“Always be prepared,” Bruce said simply. Clark didn’t really think that counted as an explanation, but too many other things were on his mind to follow up on it.</p><p>Any time a disaster struck in his vicinity, Clark could feel it as he faded to the background of his own mind. Clark Kent didn’t know what to do when an elevator broke, or when Lex Luthor threatened the city, or any number of a thousand other things. But <em>Superman</em>, well, he’d know how to handle it.</p><p>Except there was no where for Clark Kent to turn into Superman right now.</p><p>Bruce’s face was starting to show the slightest of cracks in his calm as well. Clark had every confidence that the building’s managers wouldn’t have dared to skip on maintaining their main elevator, but he didn’t blame the guy for not having the same faith.</p><p>Ever a study in contrast, Lois seemed to be entirely unperturbed. Maybe it was her military upbringing, or the frequent kidnapping attempts that supervillains with no research skills inflicted on her, but she actually looked more annoyed at Clark than she did concerned. And annoyed with Bruce?</p><p>“Looks like we’re going to have to wait until the fire department gets here,” Bruce said affably.</p><p>How the man managed to sound so calm with a heartrate that high was beyond Clark.</p><p>“Shouldn’t be long, the nearest station isn’t too far. Someone will doubtless have called already.”</p><p>“Unless the phone tower is out,” Lois said, holding up her cell.</p><p>“Shit,” Bruce swore, and removed the panel covering the elevator controls.</p><p>“You’re a mechanic, too?” Clark asked doubtfully.</p><p>“Mechanical engineer. I’d show you the proof, but I don’t have wi-fi either.”</p><p>Lois sighed loudly, drawing the two men’s from their internal monologues to her.</p><p>“I’m quickly growing tired of the both of you pretending to be okay with this situation. Let’s just be real about what’s happening right now. You,” she punctuated the word by poking Clark in the chest, “are freaking out not because you’re worried about the elevator failing, because I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t even dent you, you alien weirdo, you’re worried that something bad is happening <em>out there</em> and Superman’s trapped in a lift trying not to ruin his secret identity.”</p><p>“Lois that’s patently ridic-“</p><p>“Quiet, I’m not done yet. You, Bruce, are quietly confident that even if the elevator did drop you could figure out some last minute escape, but you’re worried that the Batman’s investigation in Metropolis is in trouble and that he won’t be able to salvage it because he’s <em>stuck</em> in an <em>elevator</em>, also trying to hold onto the most obvious secret identity ever.”</p><p>“Are you sure that you haven’t slipped into panic-induced shock-“</p><p>Both Lois and Clark silenced Bruce with a look.  </p><p>Assuming that Lois was right – and given that she was both the <em>Daily Planet</em>’s best investigative journalist, and also had clearly seen right through Clark’s own attempt to hide Superman.</p><p>“Isn’t that… a little on the nose?” Clark asked, looking at Bruce with a very different lens on. The Batman sighed, less from frustration and more from annoyance.</p><p>“Too obvious to be true, for most people. It’s an old joke in Gotham, <em>Bruce Wayne is the Batman</em> is about the lamest joke you could tell a Gothamite. Lots of groundwork put in there, but apparently it hadn’t spread as far as I thought. Bit of a misstep, but I was hoping to be out of Metropolis earlier than this. Then we could spread the legend of the Batman around a bit before people started taking Bruce Wayne too seriously. You’re one to talk, by the way. No one else in Metropolis is built like a brick shithouse, at least not quite like you <em>Superman</em>. The glasses and the slouch don’t fool anyone who thinks to look twice.”</p><p>“Nobody looks twice.”</p><p>“You work at a <em>newspaper</em>, Clark, we’re all paid to look twice,” Lois snarked, rolling her eyes.</p><p>“I guess it’s a good thing you’re the only one who actually does, then, Lois. Everyone else has come up with other explanations for the weird things about me.”</p><p>Everything paused for a moment, then, as the three of them looked at each other in silence.</p><p>“Go on, then, you two. Get me out of this fucking elevator, and then go save the goddamn day!”</p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Reconciliations and Revelations</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Lois and Clark rendezvous in the Planet's annex to discuss the events of the day before, and Clark is utterly unprepared for the revelations to come.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“So long how have you…?”</p><p>“Oh, basically forever, Clark. You were about as subtle as, as, as <em>you</em> punching a dude through a skyscraper.”</p><p>“I don’t punch men through –“</p><p>“Give it a rest.”</p><p>The top floor of the <em>Planet</em> stretched out around them, the quiet paper archives that predated both the shiny servers in the basement, and probably ninety percent of the staff. It also hosted Lois Lane’s Secret Minifridge, because no one thought to climb the rickety ladder up into the attic space unless it was with Lois for beer.</p><p>She’d told Clark that she found the smell of yellowing paper and old ink comforting. He thought it might have just as much to do with it being one of the few truly quiet places in the whole city.</p><p>“What about everyone else?”</p><p>“What about them? One of the thing that makes the two of us the best reporters in this city is that we can hear an implausible theory, and then follow it until there’s evidence to prove it one way or another. Most folks have a thought like ‘the same Clark Kent who gets sleepy after two beers and calls his mother every Friday afternoon at three o’clock sharp is also Superman, and an alien’ and they abandon it almost immediately. It takes a weirdo like me, or an <em>actual alien</em> like you to entertain something like that long enough to investigate it.”</p><p>Clark took a draught from his beer, savouring the bitter taste as a fitting accompaniment to their conversation.</p><p>“They probably think that you’re the other kind of alien, you know. Undocumented, adopted by a couple of Americans after something happened to your birth parents. No one wants to look to hard in case it ruins things for you.”</p><p>“They’re not too far wrong, actually. Some of the details are a little different, but the story has the same shape. But, uh, how did you know about the alien thing?”</p><p>Lois took a cigarette from her pocket, and started to fiddle intently with it. His gut told Clark that she was using it as an excuse not to look at him.</p><p>“Martha Kent.”</p><p>“You went to my <em>parents,</em>” Clark breathed, his hands gripping the arms of the chair like he was going to stand.</p><p>“I followed my lead. I <em>liked</em> you, Clark, I still like you. But I knew you were lying to all of us, and I had to figure out if that lie was putting us all in danger. Which, you know, I was <em>right</em> about, but I decided you were worth being in danger for. And I know everyone else would too. Like you said, the shape of the story is basically what they think it is anyway.”</p><p>The panic swirled in his stomach, refusing to settle even with the knowledge that this confrontation had happened an unknown amount of time ago. Clark stared out of the window, looking through the <em>Planet</em>’s massive logo.</p><p>“You’ll be happy to know that your Ma nearly blew me to pieces with that shotgun of hers, Clark. Only thing that stopped her was showing her that photo of the two of us sledding. You remember, it was the first time you’d been sledding since you left Kansas. You said it wasn’t winter if you didn’t go sledding.”</p><p>“That’s Ma for you,” Clark said, smiling fondly. “What did you do to convince her not to tell me you were sniffing around?”</p><p>“I ask myself the same thing. She made me stay for tea, so she could explain a couple of things. I think… I think she decided to trust me when she realised that I’d only done it to keep everyone safe. Protectiveness is a language your Ma clearly speaks. Which, come to think of it, explains where you got it.”</p><p>Adrenaline, or whatever equivalent Clark had was still thrumming through his veins, but the mental image of Lois and Ma having tea and talking about him had calmed him down. He took another sip of the beer, and closed his eyes for a moment.</p><p>“You still want to go after Bruce, don’t you?”</p><p>Clark nodded.</p><p>“Damn it, Kansas, <em>I’m</em> supposed to be the hotheaded star reporter, and you’re my responsible partner. I am not enjoying this role swap. We know the Bat and the Batman are the same man, and we know that he’s here to expand his company’s influence.”</p><p>“Do we?”</p><p>“Ugh, yeah alright you have a point there. I still have some of his fucking charm stuck on me. Seeps into the cracks, that smile.”</p><p>He shifted imperceptibly, not particularly keen on letting her know how much he agreed with that. Clark had finally accepted that it was <em>because</em> his natural inclination was to trust everything Bruce Wayne said that he didn’t trust the Bat at all.</p><p>“Look, you’re the one who is insisting that we continue following this lead. You can stop trying to pull the ‘strong, silent type’ act on me and actually say what you’re thinking. There’s no one around to think you’re dumb, only me.”</p><p>“And what if I care what you think?”</p><p>“I already <em>know</em> you’re dumb, Kansas, so you haven’t got anything to lose.”</p><p>Hard to argue with that.</p><p>“I think that Wayne is the type who likes to think he’s just a little bit cleverer than anyone else around him. Or rather, the persona he puts on in public thinks that he’s smarter than everyone in the room – so he’ll tell the truth, but just omit the most important parts. Everything he said about his plans in Metropolis was probably true, just a smaller scope than his actual plan.”</p><p>“So the big picture isn’t about helping Metropolis, or undercutting LexCorp?”</p><p>“Too small. If Wayne wanted to, he could be running for federal office. Or, easier, lobbying federal committees to get to his goals just as easily, he has the money to make change happen. Either something in Metropolis is between him and his goal, or he needs something here to get to it. Could be anything though.”</p><p>“Well, what does Metropolis have that Gotham doesn’t?”</p><p>That stumped the two of them pretty thoroughly. It was hard to think of two American cities that were less similar, if you didn’t count infamous supervillains as an export.</p><p>“Sunshine.”</p><p>“Adequate sewage.”</p><p>“Optimism.”</p><p>“Fewer orphanages.”</p><p>“Dating options.”</p><p>“Less depressing parks.”</p><p>“Good pizza.”</p><p>“Ma’s is better.”</p><p>“Arguable. Ah, tourism.”</p><p>“That might be something actually. Weren’t you getting a weirdly large number of hits for the Batman around museums on social media?”</p><p>“Oh fuck!”</p><p>“Lois, please.”</p><p>“No time for modesty now, Clark. You know what Metropolis has that Gotham doesn’t <em>any more</em>? Things worth stealing. There have been rumours about the Batman and Catwoman for years now, what’s the bet he got a tip off that she’s after something here, and doesn’t think you can stop her?”</p><p>Clark stood up, and the tension between the two of them had finally abated. Being on the same team might do that to you.</p><p>“Isn’t the Krypton Memorial Museum supposed to be hosting an exhibit of actual Kryptonian artifacts this month? That I’ve been meaning to talk to them about, because I don’t know how they got them or if any of them are real; but either way I feel like I should have been consulted?”</p><p>“No time to ponder your lost cultural connection, big boy, Superman’s got a hot threeway with a Bat and a Cat at the museum to get to.”</p><p>“Never say that again,” Clark replied, already halfway out of both the room and his clothes.</p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Unclad Conversations</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>After failing to intercept the Batman and Catwoman at the museum, Clark gets an unexpected evening visitor.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise that a man who spends half his time flying around in spandex looks this good in his underwear, but I don’t know. It hits different without a top.”</p><p>Clark wondered if having strangers show up on his windowsill was going to start becoming a habit, now that someone other than his family knew his secret identity.</p><p>“Do I know you?” he asked, wearily.</p><p>He’d nearly gotten into bed, but it was clear that sleep wasn’t going to be happening any time soon. Clark made an about face, and put on the same pot of coffee he’d been working through the last three days.</p><p>The figure lounging in his windowsill had a distinctly feline air to her, and it wasn’t going to take a genius to put the pieces together.</p><p>“Selina Kyle?” he guessed.</p><p>She scowled, and dropped from the windowsill into the room proper.</p><p>“There’s no way you figured that out.”</p><p>“Bruce Wayne’s childhood friend, rumoured on-again, off-again lover. Done in for a run of juvenile offenses but bailed out of each, and then nothing from there. And don’t try to imply that I got that information illicitly, back in Gotham’s rougher days each of those things got published in some tabloid or another, and corroborate each other. Bruce won’t turn you in, and no one else can catch you.”</p><p>Kyle leaned up against the nearest wall, watching intently as Clark listed off most of the things he knew about her.</p><p>“Turns out the reporter gig isn’t just a cover, then? Maybe there’s more to you than the boy scout persona after all.”</p><p>The bitter coffee didn’t taste any better than the last time, but drinking it was more fun than replying to the insult.</p><p>“Fine, fine. You’re just as fun as Bruce, I’m sad to say. I didn’t come here just to annoy you, I’ve got a score for you.”</p><p>“I’m not a thief, Kyle.”</p><p>“It’s not stealing if it didn’t belong to them in the first place. There’s only one person on this planet with any right to Kryptonian artifacts, and it’s definitely not some Metropolitan museum.”</p><p>She dipped a hand into a bag that Clark hadn’t seen until that moment, and tossed something his way.</p><p>Clark’s eyes tracked the projectile as it moved towards him, and leisurely picked it out of the air. In a better timeline, he might have known exactly what it was, a relic of the ancestry that he’d lost.</p><p>“What am I supposed to do with a priceless Kryptonian artifact, that I have no way to explain to anyone who might come in here and see it?”</p><p>“Tell them it’s a replica? I think I saw one in the gift shop. Look, what you do with it doesn’t matter to me, I’m just the repatriator.”</p><p>“Repatriation is more than just stealing things from museums. Wait, fine, not stealing, but taking them from museums and giving them to the first person you find who has some claim to them is just going to cause the destruction of both trust, and a lot of irreplaceable artifacts.”</p><p>Selina closed the distance between them, moving suddenly and with only the tiniest of warnings. That warning was enough to keep Clark from flinching, though, the villainous exports of Gotham didn’t have much on his heightened senses. She walked two of her fingers up Clark’s bare chest, which he’d rather she didn’t but he also wasn’t sure how to get her to stop.</p><p>“You seem to be labouring under the misguided impression, Kent, that I’m interested in negotiating. We’re not setting terms here, I’m giving you what is rightfully yours, and you are going to let me leave your city untouched. Well, you can touch me a little if you like, but I’m guessing you’re too much like Bruce to take me up on that.”</p><p>“You guessed right.”</p><p>Clark thanked his sensible upbringing for at the very least preventing him from being particularly attracted to the scantily clad cat burglar that was trying her hand at repatriation. The billionaire bat-furry and Lois goddamn Lane were enough on his plate. And he was going to ignore that he’d mentally admitted something he had been pointedly not admitting or thinking about.</p><p>“Shame. I’ve always wanted to try alien, and the country boy gives it a bit of extra flavour that I like.”</p><p>“Tell me something, Kyle. Is this all Wayne was up to, here in Metropolis? Trying to stop you before you bit off more than you could chew?”</p><p>“Me?” Selina laughed incredulously. “Oh no, trying to stop me is nothing more than an occasional pastime for Bruce, when he finds an opportunity. You should ask him about those little birds of his, and all the trouble that they’re trying to get up to in this city of yours.”</p><p>“Birds? Oh, right, the Robins. Do you know how many there are? I don’t think anyone ever settled on an official count.”</p><p>“The number goes up and down often enough that I can hardly bother to keep track. You’d think Bruce would do a better job of keeping his wards alive, but they do always seem to come back even if they bite it.”</p><p>“They <em>what</em>?”</p><p>“You’ll have to ask Bruce yourself. Enough lounging around, this cat’s got to hunt. Goodbye, Clark. Maybe we’ll have more fun next time.”</p><p>Selina leapt out of the open window, and Clark knew better than to try and spot where she was going. The Catwoman had remained uncaught for more than just Bruce Wayne’s charity, though that definitely had a hand in it.</p><p>He fiddled with the artifact that he had been unceremoniously gifted, still trying to work out what it was and how it had made it to Earth. Questions that didn’t have answers he could feasibly learn, most likely, but that wasn’t going to stop him from wondering.</p><p>
  <em>Had a cat visit tonight. Left something interesting behind, from home. Not sure what it is, or how I’m supposed to give it back without incriminating myself.</em>
</p><p>Clark couldn’t quite remember when his first response to not knowing something had become going to Lois, but he couldn’t fault the instinct. If anyone was going to have a good idea for him, it would be her.</p><p>
  <em>Even when you’re at home you can’t help getting into trouble, huh? Lucky I’m here to bail you out. I know a guy.</em>
</p><p>Plus, no one else knew everyone there was to know in Metropolis. Clark didn’t even have a cable guy.</p>
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<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Who Is Interviewing Who Here?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Nightwing sticks his beak in where it doesn't belong, and thoroughly stirs the pot.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Grayson. That makes you Wayne’s adopted son, right?”</p><p>“That’s me. My friends call me Dick, though.”</p><p>“And what did you do to deserve that?”</p><p>Dick gave Clark a puzzled look. It took a solid few seconds before he broke into a wicked smile eerily reminiscent of his adoptive fathers’.</p><p>“You had me there. If you asked half of my siblings they’d tell you to spend half an hour with me and you wouldn’t have that question anymore.”</p><p>“That doesn’t tell me what you’re doing in Metropolis, though. Nor how you managed to get all the way to my desk without someone stopping you.”</p><p>“I just have one of those trustworthy faces.”</p><p>Clark’s disbelief wrote itself across his features. He knew what a trustworthy face looked like, and Dick Grayson did not have one.</p><p>“Alright, spoilsport. You’re as bad as; well, me. I came in through an open window on the ninth floor, went up the emergency stairs, and spoofed a keycard to get in. Easy stuff really, you guys should invest in better security. WayneTech has a deal-”</p><p>“No. And if you’re here to sell for your father then you’re going to be severely disappointed.”</p><p>“Noted. Answer this question of mine, Clark Kent, and I’ll answer yours – what is Bruce Wayne doing in Metropolis?”</p><p>“His own son doesn’t know?”</p><p>“Please, I don’t know what his favourite cereal is, let alone half the plans he has. I <em>did</em> know what he was doing here, but that’s all done and dusted so now we’re all at a bit of a loss.”</p><p>Clark didn’t bother reminding Dick of his end of the bargain, they both knew that he hadn’t forgotten in the slightest.</p><p>“And <em>I’m</em> here to take you to lunch.”</p><p>“It’s ten thirty in the morning.”</p><p>“Call it brunch, then. I figure we’re going to be getting to know each other fairly well, one way or another, so we might as well start it off on a good foot.”</p><p>He probably wasn’t wrong, even if Clark didn’t feel like admitting it. And he had skipped breakfast. This might make a good opportunity to get an insider’s view of Bruce Wayne, insofar as such a thing existed.</p><p>“Eggopedia?”</p><p>“Deal. When you’re ready, Mr Kent.”</p><p>“Relax, Dick. We’re not at <em>Mr Kent</em> yet. Clark is fine.”</p><hr/><p>“Riddler’s lime underwear that’s good stuff.”</p><p>“That’s what you’re going to go with?”</p><p>“Bruce doesn’t like swearing, so I got in the habit as a kid. Hard to break, and I slip back into it without thinking sometimes.”</p><p>“Colourful. So Bruce has been running loose in Metropolis, and even his own family don’t know why?”</p><p>“Basically.”</p><p>Dick took a hefty swig out of the glass of orange juice in front of him, and then topped it up from the pitcher.</p><p>“There was the business with Selina; which I heard you got some first hand experience with, I’m sorry. Then he had to finish up the loose ends with LexCorp… which you didn’t know about yet.”</p><p>“Not enough to get an article past Perry, anyway. I had some threads that were leading towards Luthor, but nothing I could pull on without some unconventional tactics. I try to keep those out of my reporting.”</p><p>“Ah, fair. Lex was up to some shady shit in Blüdhaven, which he thought he could sneak past Bruce. No joy, and now we’ve got WayneTech in Metropolis doing a little counterintelligence, a little undermining, and some, ah, other ground work. Which is what we were here to talk about.”</p><p>Clark wearily rubbed one of his temples.</p><p>“Spit it out, Dick. I’m tired of trying to guess what every Gothamite actually means when they speak.”</p><p>“Two possibilities, really. Either Bruce is trying to recruit you, for some kind of good-doing coalition. A league for justice, maybe, you’re both pretty big on that. Or…”</p><p>“Or?”</p><p>“Or he’s trying to work up the courage to ask you on a date.”</p><p>Impulses that Clark had been very effectively burying for a couple of weeks now started to bubble back up to the surface, not at all helped by the smug look on Dick’s face.</p><p>“So, Clark, what <em>exactly</em> are your intentions with my father.”</p><p>Clark Kent was a well-raised man. His Ma had taught him his manners, and his Da had taught him when to fight and when to walk away. But for all that, he could have smacked the grin right off of Dick Grayson in that moment, and not regretted it one bit.</p><p>“I have no intentions with your father.”</p><p>“Bulls-“</p><p>“And until very recently, I had assumed I was heterosexual. So I hope you’ll understand if I need some time to process this new information.”</p><p>“Ah.”</p><p>The two of them sat across from each other in a surprisingly comfortable silence. Clark was forced to conclude that he didn’t actually mind Dick’s company when he wasn’t being infuriating. Or talking, when he wasn’t talking.</p><p>“Do you want some tips?”</p><p>“Tips?”</p><p>“On not being straight.”</p><p>That was not what Clark had expected Dick to say, but it was an interesting idea to say the least.</p><p>“What have I got to lose?”</p><p>“Okay, well, first things first is that you’re going to want to work out what it all means for yourself before you start dealing with other people around it.”</p><p>“So the opposite of this?”</p><p>“Basically, yeah. Straight people, gay people, everything in between. They all have expectations about what that means. You’ll have the best time if you’ve already figured out what you want it to be for yourself.”</p><p>“Which makes your first piece of advice not to listen to your advice. Fantastic. What else have you got?”</p><p>“Go on a date with Bruce.”</p><p>If Clark had been still drinking the juice, he would have spit it out.</p><p>“You’re messing with me.”</p><p>“Not at all. Ol’ Brucie might act like a charmer, and have some unconventional hobbies, but he’s a pretty good date from what I’ve heard. Never touches anyone where they haven’t been very clear that they want to be touched, respects boundaries, listens attentively. The whole playboy thing is a cover, he’s actually very slow moving in relationships. A real sucker for physical affection, too, once he trusts you. I don’t think he got hugged much as a child – I <em>vividly</em> remember the awkward and frequent hugs after he adopted me. Didn’t want a repeat of himself, I guess.”</p><p>Go on a date with Bruce Wayne. Well, if he was going to get to the bottom of the homoerotic tension that had been building between the two of them, breaking through the playboy façade would be a good way to start. The only issue was Lois. He didn’t want to make her think he wasn’t interested and going on a date with Bruce was a sure-fire way to make that happen.</p><p>“I’ll think about it. This has been surprisingly educational, Dick. Can we leave as friends?”</p><p>“That works for me. I’ll try to be less annoying next time, but no promises.”</p><p>“I’d expect nothing less.”</p>
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